Datarista today launched its platform-as-a-service (Paas) to simplify the process of integrating customer data into the various cloud-based sales and marketing platforms used by organizations. According to Pat Sabatino, Datarista's chief executive officer, the extension will allow third-party data providers to import customer records into the end user's destination of choice without requiring additional exertion, in turn saving companies time and money on custom integrations.

"End users today are feeling the pain point of bringing third-party data [into their CRM systems and marketing automation platforms]. Data companies are not software companies, so they really struggle to get this right," Sabatino says, noting that they often lack the staff or budget necessary for integration projects. With Datarista, "they'll have a way of providing an integrated experience for their customers."

Datarista's service allows data providers to link records into several cloud platforms via one integration. Up until now, the procedure of syncing data across all systems has been a laborious one, Sabatino says—one that keeps getting harder as the number of available cloud platforms grows. Historically, if a company has wanted to import its data into a different repository—such as Marketo, Salesforce, or Zoho, for instance—the data provider has had to build separate integrations for each one.

The process hasn't been cheap, either, Sabatino says. On average, a custom-built integration costs the end-user anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million per platform and can take years to develop. To get Datarista up and running, the data provider companies are required to pay a $25,000 fee up front, in addition to a revenue share. The amount each data provider pays in revenue shares will depend on the number of sales they make. Ultimately, this will reduce the fees end users have to pay.

Sabatino maintains that another advantage of having one integration source is that it makes data maintenance more practical. Typically, the data that lives within a CRM system must be updated on a regular basis, and the method by which this is achieved becomes complicated as the number of cloud sources they must sync together increases. Datarista's platform automates data enhancement processes and allows companies to refer to a uniform set of records within one uniform user interface. End users will have the ability to create net new prospect lists, as the product also reduces the likelihood of storing duplicated entries.

Datarista's platform will be available to paying customers in Q1 of 2016, Sabatino says, though no names have been disclosed. "We're in active dialogue with over 70 data providers," he says, and hopes to see that number grow to over 100 by 2017.